


Wait

by woollen_pharaohs



Category: Raised by Wolves (TV 2020)
Genre: Bisexual Mary, Character Study, Gen, Missing Scene, Trans Character, bisexual Caleb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26543338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woollen_pharaohs/pseuds/woollen_pharaohs
Summary: Paul told her what happened.Set during s01e07.
Relationships: Sue/Marcus
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Wait

**Author's Note:**

> FYI the names Mary/Sue and Caleb/Marcus are used interchangeably.

Being Marcus’ wife, Sue is exempt from having to clean up after their meal. She leaves the hut with Paul by her side, and startles when she feels him tug on her elbow. Thirteen years of living in a sim on the Ark together but they couldn’t touch, not really. They barely even got time to embrace before going into stasis and back then, they didn’t really know each other. Not like they do now. And yet she still hasn’t gotten used to the weight of his touch, the lightness, the smallness of his hands. 

A smile grows on Sue’s face as she turns to Paul. “What is it, kiddo? Do you want to hang back with your friends?”

Paul looks up at her, a gentle crinkle through his brow. “When are we going to surprise the others with the meat I caught?”

Sue looks around the plains cautiously. Most are still clustered in the hut that the necromancer and android made for eating within. A few scattered soldiers remain out at night, two manning the silo in which the necromancer is tied up. 

“Not yet,” Sue says, turning back toward the orange igloo where she, Marcus and Paul have claimed for sleeping. “There’s plenty to eat still.”

“But Mom-” Paul protests, latching onto her elbow again. 

“Paul.” She drops to one knee and places her hands on Paul’s shoulders. “We just need to keep this between you and me for now. Okay? It’s our secret.”

Paul’s eyes train on the dusty ground. 

Sue searches Paul’s eyes for a moment. There’s something on Paul’s mind. He’s a smart kid. So incredibly intelligent that Mary was petrified in the first few months of spending time with Paul in the Ark that he would see through her and Caleb’s lies. He never seemed to catch on, or at least he never gave any indication that he doubted his parents were his real parents. He had plenty of reason to. Neither her or Caleb had time to go through Marcus and Sue’s home to learn things about the people they were going to impersonate. They didn’t even know their new personas had a son until they were about to set foot on the Ark itself. 

Thirteen years and Mary feels like she knows Paul like he is her flesh and blood. She just hopes that, when the time comes to tell him the truth, he would count those thirteen years as something and not throw it away. Part of her thinks that he would be confused and hurt, but he would still love her and Caleb. From what she has gathered about their family life beforehand, it wasn’t exactly picture perfect. Hell, it sounds like Marcus didn’t even want Paul to have existed. Mary knows that feeling all too well, and she never thought she’d be given the chance to love a child how she wished she was loved. That has to count for something if this all falls apart. She hopes Paul will see that, but there’s a chance he won’t. And for that reason, she has to still be careful with how much of herself she lets down for Paul to see. Once the necromancer is dead, and the three of them can flee to the tropics, it’ll be different. It’ll be better. She has to hold onto that hope. 

“Are you going to tell Dad about the meat?”

“Yeah, of course I’m going to tell Dad.”

“...Okay.”

Sue brings her other knee to the ground gradually, eyeing her son. 

“Do you… not want me to tell Dad?”

“No, I-” Paul cuts himself off, turning his face to one side. The moonlight illuminates the side of his face that had once been shadowed. The dark circle under Paul’s eye is still present. She knows that’s Campion’s doing, but there’s a new injury. A swelling around his jaw. 

Sue slowly raises her hand to touch the swollen area. Paul winces, the visible pain on his face pricking her own eyes with rage-filled tears. 

“Who did this to you? Campion?!”

“I thought about it. I think you should tell Dad about the meat we got,” Paul says with a sense of renewed confidence. He looks back into his Mom’s eyes. “I hope it will make him stop being mad at me.” 

“Dad… did this… to you?” Sue seethes through her teeth. 

Paul nods sheepishly. 

Rage ripples down her spine. Stiffly she takes Paul into her arms, careful not to bump his jaw against her shoulder. She pats his hair, stroking her fingers through the fine sandy blond hair. She then grips his arms and pulls them apart, careful not to grip him too tightly though fury runs through her veins. 

Through gritted teeth she tells him to go back into the hut and help clean up. She watches his silhouette disappear inside the hut, then crunches the soil under her feet as she twists violently and starts marching toward the big orange dome. 

She can hardly believe it. How could Caleb  _ do _ that to Paul?! To any child, for that matter, after what happened to Caleb, after what Caleb was made to do at Paul’s age. She knows that they’re both capable of violence. They were trained to be, they were  _ forced _ to be by the religious who destroyed the planet. But for so long there was no reason to raise a fist. She had hoped that they’d moved past it, moved past the need to turn a violent hand on each other. They had thirteen good years. They’d never been so happy. But now… 

It’s not just this planet. It’s these people. Believers in Sol and disbelievers in souls. Ever since Marcus became their leader he’s been hooked on this power trip. But to take out his frustrations on Paul?  _ Paul _ ?! It’s disgusting. 

Mary doesn’t put any thought to it. She knows what she has to do. The minute she knows Paul is safe, she marches into the dome, finds Caleb and punches him as hard as she can. 

“There! Do you like that? Do you like how that feels?” 

Her hand smarts, her whole body is shaking. Caleb looks at her like  _ she’s _ the crazy one. 

“What is wrong with you?” 

“Paul told me what happened,” She says and everything comes out so fast, faster than she can think. “Don’t you ever fucking touch him again, do you understand? Never again.”

Caleb pulls his lips thin, his eyes tilt in the sockets and guilt rises like a saw blade to her throat. She knows she’s gone too far. Not with the words, with the punch. Because they’re not like that. They’re not  _ meant _ to be like that. They’ve been together for so long and been through  _ so much _ and she’s never, ever felt so much rage towards this man who gave her so much. He saved her life. She couldn’t have found the patience to wait for what she needed if it wasn’t for him being by her side every day, every second, protecting her and loving her and supporting her in every way. And after it, when she needed to heal. He was there. She doesn’t look it now but there was a time where she couldn’t even get up to get a glass of water without his help because her skin grafts hadn’t healed yet and might tear if she moved. He was there still, through the thick and the thin of it, ready when she came out of it being who she always knew she was, always wanted to be. He never gave up. He never let her give up even when it all seemed so impossible. They were a team, they  _ are  _ a team, and yet if he even  _ thinks  _ of hurting Paul like that again… 

She turns her back on him, starts zipping up their bags. They’re going right now. Enough of this place. Enough of these people. 

“Did you reprogram the necromancer? Is she good to go?”

“It’s not gonna happen.”

“You can’t leave her here, you have to destroy her.”

“I’m working on it,” Caleb says in the most nonchalant dickbag voice and she fucking loses it, again. 

“Really?” Mary retorts. “Doesn’t look like you’re working on a damn thing.”

Then Caleb fucking says it. She  _ knows _ how much she owes him. He doesn’t have to say it. It’s worse that he says it, like he’s keeping count, like she’s always got to keep making it up to him. She will, she does. She lies in his arms and tells the stars how lucky she is that they’re here, together, with Paul. She does all she can to show Caleb the gratitude and love he deserves but she has always feared it wasn’t enough and now it’s not. It’s not because he’s fucking said it’s not luck that got them where they are, it was him. 

Where would she be without him? Dead. Every scenario she imagines. Dead. It’s because she’s impulsive, it’s who she is. She acts before she thinks. She takes a boy into a shell of a shattered building while warning sirens ring and android screams deafen the destroyed city and she kisses him, hard against the concrete wall. They were just kids then. They both thought they were just gay. They both had no idea what kind of a risk they’d taken, what kind of life lay ahead of them. But she has always been someone who fights for who she loves. 

For whoever’s left, anyway. She’s always had Caleb, nobody else. No parents, no siblings. Just Caleb. Now, after the crazy that’s coming out of Caleb’s mouth, she might have to consider that all she has left now is Paul. She never put much currency in The Prophecy, least not in Paul being the Chosen One. She and Caleb might not be his ‘real’ parents, but they were close enough, if not better. But Caleb being the Chosen One? She has to laugh. For all Caleb knows,  _ she _ could be the orphan boy on the empty land. Sounds more convincing than Caleb, a grown man, being the so-called Chosen One. Afterall, she was once a boy. But it’s all bullshit anyway. She just wishes Caleb would see some sense so that they can leave together. She doesn’t want to have to leave him behind. She doesn’t know if she could. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> simping hard for sue as u can tell. hope she lives lmao only time will tell.


End file.
